Southern Piedmont Way | Stage 17 Miogliola - Pareto

Continuing uphill past Cascina Merlo Country House on an asphalt road for about 1.3 km, you arrive in a hamlet of houses where you need to turn sharply right to take the path onto a wide dirt-muddy driveway. At the beginning of this stretch there is yellow-red painted signage, which refers to the Three Rivers route.

After a few hundred meters you come across a first crossroads: here you need to take the uphill dirt road on the right; a few meters after this turn, there is a second crossroads where it is necessary to turn right to take the downhill dirt road, characterized by an environment dominated by oak and chestnut woods.Continuing for another 800 meters or so you arrive at the meeting point with the alternative driveway that goes up from Miogliola, keep left and go up a short climb which presents a more open and panoramic environment over the surrounding valleys.

The path continues on this road until reaching a large intersection with a small sunny rest area; on this site there is a vertical pole with very detailed CAI signs.To proceed you need to turn left downhill, towards Pareto, following the CAI paths n. 582 and 570 – Itinerary of the Country Churches.At the crossroads you need to keep left on CAI path n. 570, and continue downhill for about 1 km. At this point you begin to notice a different, complex morphology of the terrain: that of the gullies, generated by intense meteoric erosion of soft rocks, such as sand, marl and sandstone.

At the end of the descent you return to the asphalt, pass the cemetery and turn left to reach the center of the village of Roboaro, near the church of San Rocco.From here, after about 25 metres, turn right towards Loc. Taranche, where an uphill stretch begins on a narrow asphalt road, towards Pareto.At the end of the climb you continue on the same country road, which passes through several houses and farmhouses, whose landscape is very suggestive, open onto the valley, where it is not uncommon to come across specimens of roe deer or observe the flight of a buzzard.This last stretch of asphalt ends in Pareto, at the intersection with Provincial Road 215, which leads to Spigno Monferrato.

The historic center of the hamlet, perched around the Parish Church of San Pietro Apostolo and the Aleramico Castle, is worth a visit.